Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 45
Ode for a Royal Wedding
To the leader: according to Lilies. Of the Korahites. A Maskil. A love song.
1 My heart overflows with a goodly theme;
I address my verses to the king;
my tongue is like the pen of a ready scribe.(A)
2 You are the most handsome of men;
grace is poured upon your lips;
therefore God has blessed you forever.(B)
3 Gird your sword on your thigh, O mighty one,
in your glory and majesty.(C)
4 In your majesty ride on victoriously
for the cause of truth and to defend[a] the right;
let your right hand teach you dread deeds.(D)
5 Your arrows are sharp
in the heart of the king’s enemies;
the peoples fall under you.
6 Your throne, O God,[b] endures forever and ever.
Your royal scepter is a scepter of equity;(E)
7 you love righteousness and hate wickedness.
Therefore God, your God, has anointed you
with the oil of gladness beyond your companions;(F)
8 your robes are all fragrant with myrrh and aloes and cassia.
From ivory palaces stringed instruments make you glad;(G)
9 daughters of kings are among your ladies of honor;
at your right hand stands the queen in gold of Ophir.(H)
10 Hear, O daughter, consider and incline your ear;
forget your people and your father’s house,(I)
11 and the king will desire your beauty.
Since he is your lord, bow to him;(J)
12 Daughter Tyre will seek your favor with gifts,
the richest of the people(K) 13 with all kinds of wealth.
Psalm 47
God’s Rule over the Nations
To the leader. Of the Korahites. A Psalm.
1 Clap your hands, all you peoples;
shout to God with loud songs of joy.(A)
2 For the Lord, the Most High, is awesome,
a great king over all the earth.(B)
3 He subdued peoples under us
and nations under our feet.(C)
4 He chose our heritage for us,
the pride of Jacob whom he loves. Selah(D)
5 God has gone up with a shout,
the Lord with the sound of a trumpet.(E)
6 Sing praises to God, sing praises;
sing praises to our King, sing praises.(F)
7 For God is the king of all the earth;
sing praises with a psalm.[a](G)
8 God is king over the nations;
God sits on his holy throne.(H)
9 The princes of the peoples gather
as the people of the God of Abraham.
For the shields of the earth belong to God;
he is highly exalted.(I)
Psalm 48
The Glory and Strength of Zion
A Song. A Psalm of the Korahites.
1 Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised
in the city of our God.
His holy mountain,(J) 2 beautiful in elevation,
is the joy of all the earth,
Mount Zion, in the far north,
the city of the great King.(K)
3 Within its citadels God
has shown himself a sure defense.(L)
4 Then the kings assembled;
they came on together.(M)
5 As soon as they saw it, they were astounded;
they were in panic; they took to flight;(N)
6 trembling took hold of them there,
pains as of a woman in labor,
7 as when an east wind shatters
the ships of Tarshish.(O)
8 As we have heard, so have we seen
in the city of the Lord of hosts,
in the city of our God,
which God establishes forever. Selah
The Destiny of the Righteous
3 But the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God,
and no torment will ever touch them.
2 In the eyes of the foolish they seemed to have died,
and their departure was thought to be a disaster(A)
3 and their going from us to be their destruction,
but they are at peace.
4 For though in the sight of others they were punished,
their hope is full of immortality.(B)
5 Having been disciplined a little, they will receive great good,
because God tested them and found them worthy of himself;(C)
6 like gold in the furnace he tried them,
and like a sacrificial burnt offering he accepted them.(D)
7 In the time of their visitation they will shine forth
and will run like sparks through the stubble.(E)
8 They will govern nations and rule over peoples,
and the Lord will reign over them forever.(F)
9 Those who trust in him will understand truth,
and the faithful will abide with him in love,
because grace and mercy are upon his holy ones,
and he watches over his elect.[a](G)
The Supremacy of Christ
15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation,(A) 16 for in[a] him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers—all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He himself is before all things, and in[b] him all things hold together. 18 He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything.(B) 19 For in him all the fullness of God[c] was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross.(C)
21 And you who were once estranged and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, 22 he has now reconciled[d] in his fleshly body[e] through death, so as to present you holy and blameless and irreproachable before him,(D) 23 provided that you continue securely established and steadfast in the faith, without shifting from the hope promised by the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed to every creature[f] under heaven. I, Paul, became a minister of this gospel.(E)
Jesus Chooses the Twelve Apostles
12 Now during those days he went out to the mountain to pray, and he spent the night in prayer to God.(A) 13 And when day came, he called his disciples and chose twelve of them, whom he also named apostles:(B) 14 Simon, whom he named Peter, and his brother Andrew, and James, and John, and Philip, and Bartholomew, 15 and Matthew, and Thomas, and James son of Alphaeus, and Simon, who was called the Zealot, 16 and Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.(C)
Jesus Teaches and Heals
17 He came down with them and stood on a level place with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea, Jerusalem, and the coast of Tyre and Sidon.(D) 18 They had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases, and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. 19 And everyone in the crowd was trying to touch him, for power came out from him and healed all of them.(E)
Blessings and Woes
20 Then he looked up at his disciples and said:
“Blessed are you who are poor,
for yours is the kingdom of God.
21 “Blessed are you who are hungry now,
for you will be filled.
“Blessed are you who weep now,
for you will laugh.(F)
22 “Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you[a] on account of the Son of Man.(G) 23 Rejoice on that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven, for that is how their ancestors treated the prophets.(H)
24 “But woe to you who are rich,
for you have received your consolation.(I)
25 “Woe to you who are full now,
for you will be hungry.
“Woe to you who are laughing now,
for you will mourn and weep.(J)
26 “Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets.(K)
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.